Well, it is that time of the year again and that means...another European vacation!
My favorite Swede, Emmie Derback mentioned to me once that it was her priority to get to Europe at least once a year.
Though I technically have already fulfilled this year's requirement, I shall never pass on an opportunity for travel, especially given how hard the life of a first year teacher is when you teach in the inner city of New Orleans.
Now, after spending countless nights agonizing over test results, grading papers and trying to determine the best way to mold my students, it is finally time for Europe.
For the first time, I won't be traveling alone and will be accompanied by one of my best friends, Elizabeth Riggins and my sister Sara. From this point on, I shall refer to her as Lil SRA as I have for many years.
We shall begin our journey by flying to Heathrow Airport in London tomorrow evening.
We don't have specific plans in London yet, but merely some ideas about how to spend our time. We will be there on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which eliminates Speaker's Corner and the Saturday Portobello Road Market. Fortunately, Notting Hill opens the market everyday but it is by far the grandest on Saturdays.
Elizabeth has indicated that she would like to do high tea somewhere and Lil SRA is interested in returning to the Tate Modern. I am interested in wandering around London and experiencing how residents live their lives there. I want to marvel at the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park and engage in conversation with locals at pubs. I should also like to further explore Camden Town, enjoy the London nightlife and get lost in Harrods. I should also like to take a small side trip to the town of Willinghale in Essex County. It holds an interest for me as a graduate of Georgetown University. I just spent the last year writing a thesis on my great-grandfather who was stationed in Willinghale during World War II. I want to go to that town and retrace the steps of young man from Lebanon Junction, Kentucky who was out to change his family's future.
Second stop: Paris, France
Our next stop will be Paris, France. Though London is my favorite city on Earth, I have long been convinced that Paris is the most beautiful city on Earth. I was there just a couple years ago with Emmie so I am excited to return with Liz and Sara. Sara and I have also been to Paris together a long time ago. We were much younger and pictured Notre Dame to be a place where gargoyles truly came to life.
On this trip, I expect Sara and Liz to want to see the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay, which is one of my favorites as a fan of impressionism. I am also very interested in seeing the Rodin Museum and returning to the Galleria de Lafayette for some necessary purchases. I want to stroll through the Jardin Du Luxembourg and speak broken French with the locals along the Seine while making further necessary purchases.
Our last two stops will be Nice, France and Barcelona, Spain. I know that Sara and Liz will want to see Monaco so one of our days will be spent there and the other will probably be in Cannes. I am super excited to return to the Riviera to relax and spend some quality time on the beach.
Barcelona is the city I am most excited about because I have never been there. I am not sure what to expect outside of tons of paella, red wine and the Spanish nightlife.
Be sure to keep up with me on this latest European experience. I just know it will be an extraordinary amount of fun.
Peace, love and Europe.
AL
"On certain nights we would buy some kif from the Algerian hustlers in the back streets and then, in the hours after midnight, tune in Radio Luxembourg. Across the river, visible through the enormous second-story window, was Notre Dame. The cathedral's towers, spires, and buttresses were deliriously floodlit, and we would feast our eyes on the beauty of the place, sipping wine, tripping on fine absurdities, and generally rejoicing in the good fortune that placed us so wonderfully at the center of our childhood dreams. Life sometimes can be subsumed in magic, although the supply is not limitless. One time it touched us was during that summer in Paris. A little of that shimmer will always flicker in our hearts."
ReplyDeleteLet's see if not one but two Georgetown English majors can come up with stuff like that